SKETCH 


OF 


MEXlNDA 


RANKIN 


Ars.  J.  T.  Cirace^. 


PRICE,  3  Cents;  20  Cents  per  Dozen. 


WOMAN’S  FOREIGN  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY  OF  THE 
METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH, 

36  BROMFIELD  STREET,  BOSTON,  MASS. 


SKETCH  OB'  MELINDA  RANKIN, 


°SC 


BY  MRS.  J.  T.  GRACEY. 


IT  is  a  thrilling  missionary  story,  that  of  Miss 
Rankin’s  “Twenty  Years  Among  the  Mexi¬ 
cans.”  I  have  been  stirred  as  I  have  read  the 
book,  and  more  deeply  stirred  as  I  heard  Miss 
Rankin  relate  it  in  the  quiet  of  my  own  home.  She 
was  a  remarkable  woman,  combining  great  strength 
and  independence,  womanly  tenderness  and  reli¬ 
gious  devotion,  and  was  a  power  in  any  position. 
Born  among  the  hills  of  New  England,  she  found 
her  life-work  in  the  sunny  land  of  the  Aztecs.  She 
never  shrank  from  duty  or  from  danger  in  all  the 
varied  and  trying  experiences  that  came  to  her, 
and  in  writing  up  some  of  these  experiences  she 
says,  “  I  tell  them  because  I  hope  to  prove  by  actual 
facts  which  have  occurred  in  one  woman’s  life  that 
our  Divine  Master  has  still  work  for  woman  to  do 
in  His  kingdom  on  earth.” 

She  had  unlimited  faith  in  woman  and  in  her 
power  to  bring  things  to  pass.  “  Had  I  yielded  to 
public  sentiment,”  said  she,  “  I  should  have  settled 
down  in  my  New  England  home;  but  when  Christ 
took  possession  of  my  heart  I  submitted  myself  and 
all  my  possibilities  to  Him,  and  was  filled  with  a 
desire  to  make  known  the  blessed  gospel,  and  I 
went  out  to  do  the  Master’s  work  and  felt  no  pro¬ 
scription  because  I  was  a  woman.”  After  her  con- 


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secration  she  was  subjected  to  a  series  of  trials, 
which  she  believed  were  sent  to  prove  the  depth 
and  sincerity  of  her  motives,  but  she  came  through 
these  years  of  waiting  and  preparation  refined  and 
purified  for  the  work  God  had  for  her. 

About  the  year  1840  a  call  was  made  for  mission¬ 
ary  teachers  to  go  to  the  Mississippi  Valley.  Euro¬ 
pean  emigration  brought  great  numbers  of  Roman 
Catholics  into  that  portion  of  the  country,  and 
American  Protestantism  made  appeals  for  counter¬ 
acting  influences.  To  this  call  Miss  Rankin  re¬ 
sponded  and  went  as  far  as  Kentucky,  where  she 
remained  for  a  short  time  establishing  schools, 
then  pushed  her  way  on  to  Mississippi.  The  sunny 
South  charmed  her,  and  among  its  delightful  scenes 
she  fain  would  have  made  her  permanent  residence, 
but  she  was  not  seeking  her  own  pleasure  ;  she  was 
about  her  Master’s  business,  and  hence  this  merely 
became  to  her  an  observatory,  where  she  looked  to 
the  regions  beyond. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  between  Mexico  and  the 
United  States,  through  officers  and  soldiers  return¬ 
ing  home,  she  learned  much  of  the  Mexican  people, 
their  condition  under  a  tyrannical  priesthood,  and 
her  sympathy  became  so  enlisted  that  she  immedi¬ 
ately  wrote  for  the  papers,  hoping  thus  to  awaken 
an  interest  among  the  churches  and  missionary 
societies,  but  her  appeals  met  with  no  response. 
“God  helping  me  I  will  go  to  Mexico  myself,” 
said  she,  and  she  carried  out  her  determination. 

But  Mexico  then  was  in  a  very  unsettled  state 
and  she  could  not  enter ;  besides  the  laws  at  that 
time  positively  forbade  the  introduction  of  Protestant 


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Christianity  in  any  form,  so  to  Texas  she  went  and 
settled  at  Brownsville,  on  the  American  side  of  the 
Rio  Grande,  opposite  Matamoras,  Mexico.  The 
outlook  was  not  pleasant.  With  difficulty  she 
found  shelter,  for  there  were  no  hotels.  She  suc¬ 
ceeded  in  renting  two  rooms,  one  for  a  bed-room, 
the  other  for  a  school.  She  had  no  furniture,  but 
her  wants  were  simple  and  soon  supplied,  for,  says 
she,  “  a  Mexican  woman  brought  me  a  cot,  an 
American  sent  me  a  pillow,  and  a  German  woman 
said  she  would  cook  my  meals,  and  so  I  went  to  my 
humble  cot  with  profound  feelings  of  gratitude.” 

The  very  next  day  she  opened  a  school  for 
Mexican  girls,  as  there  is  a  large  population  of 
Mexicans  in  the  city.  This  prospered  beyond  her 
expectations,  and  one  day  she  was  encouraged  by 
the  following  little  incident.  A  mother  of  one  of 
the  little  girls  went  to  her  door  one  day,  taking  her 
saint,  as  she  called  it ;  said  she  had  prayed  to  it  all 
her  life  and  it  had  never  done  her  any  good,  and 
wanted  to  know  if  she  could  exchange  it  for  a 
Bible.  “  Indeed  I  was  so  well  pleased,”  said  Miss  R., 
“  that  I  gave  her  two  Bibles,  as  she  had  a  friend 
over  in  Matamoras  that  wanted  one.”  This  was 
the  beginning. 

God’s  word  she  felt  to  be  above  all  human  law, 
and  while  to  transfer  Bibles  into  Mexico  was  a 
direct  violation  of  the  laws  of  the  country,  she  main¬ 
tained  no  earthly  power  had  a  right  to  withhold 
this  book  from  the  people,  and  so  she  devoted  her 
energies  to  getting  the  Spanish  Bible  across  the  river. 

“  Better  send  bullets  and  gunpowder  to  Mexico 
than  Bibles,”  said  one  (a  minister)  to  her  when  she 


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was  pleading  for  help.  But  she  found  opportunities 
for  sending  hundreds  of  Bibles,  and  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  pages  of  tracts  furnished  her  by  the 
American  Bible  and  tract  societies.  Mexicans 
came  to  her  house  earnestly  soliciting  a  copy  of  the 
book.  Orders  came  to  her  from  Monterey  and 
places  in  the  interior  for  dozens  of  Bibles  and  with 
money  to  pay  for  them.  A  Protestant  portrait 
painter  carried  great  quantities  of  books  for  her 
into  the  country.  “  The  Mexicans  take  your  books 
to  turn  them  over  to  the  priests  to  be  burned,” 
said  a  friend  to  her,  but  in  several  instances  she 
was  told  that  they  hid  their  books,  and  only  “  read 
them  at  night,  when  the  priests  were  not  about.” 
She  wrote  home  for  help,  but  was  told  a  Christian 
colporteur  speaking  the  Spanish  language  could 
not  be  found,  so  getting  assistance  for  her  school, 
she  started  out  as  the  agent  of  the  American  and 
Foreign  Christian  Union,  and  the  work  received  a 
new  impulse. 

“  Every  Bible  going  into  Mexico  pleads  for  re¬ 
ligious  liberty,”  she  said,  and  religious  liberty  came 
very  slowly ;  but  while  she  was  watching  the 
struggle,  severe  domestic  troubles  came  upon  her. 
Her  sister,  who  had  taken  care  of  the  seminary,  was 
taken  ill  and  died,  and  she  herself  was  stricken  with 
yellow  fever  and  her  life  despaired  of.  But  faithful 
Mexican  women  tenderly  and  lovingly  cared  for 
her  and  she  recovered.  Then  the  Southern  Rebell¬ 
ion  came  and  she  was  driven  from  her  school  and 
made  to  deliver  up  the  keys  because  she  was  not  in 
sympathy  with  the  Confederacy.  She  did  not,  how¬ 
ever,  relinquish  her  hold  readily,  but  waited  until 


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three  peremptory  orders  were  sent,  the  last  with 
the  intimation  that  force  would  be  used  if  she  did 
not  vacate  at  once.  Confiscation  of  all  her  property 
was  urged,  but  the  receiver,  a  Roman  Catholic, 
would  not  allow  it,  saying,  “  It  was  bad  enough  foi 
man  to  be  afflicted  with  the  horrors  of  war,  and  he 
could  not  take  from  a  woman  her  necessary  articles 
of  furniture.”  Thus  driven  out,  she  found  shelter 
in  Matamoras,  and  here  she  commenced  her  direct 
missionary  labors  for  Mexicans  on  Mexican  soil. 
But  difficulties  presented  themselves,  and  often  she 
would  spend  whole  nights  in  prayer.  She  made  a 
decision  to  go  to  Monterey,  which  on  account  of  its 
commercial  interest  was  one  of  the  most  important 
cities,  and  had  a  population  of  about  forty  thou¬ 
sand,  and  was  the  centre  of  strong  Romish  influences 
and  power;  and  in  this  place,  this  lone  woman, 
after  three  months  of  careful  and  prayerful  con¬ 
sideration,  decided  to  establish  the  first  Protestant 
mission  in  Mexico.  She  rented  house  after  house, 
which  she  had  to  abandon,  for  as  soon  as  the 
priests  found  she  was  teaching  the  Bible,  means 
were  used  to  put  her  out.  Feeling  the  need  of  a 
chapel  and  school  buildings  for  successfully  carry¬ 
ing  on  this  work,  she  visited  home  and  secured 
several  thousand  dollars,  with  which  she  bought 
land  and  erected  the  necessary  buildings.  In  the 
meantime  converts  to  Protestant  faith  were  multi¬ 
plying,  and  some  of  them  were  selected  by  Miss 
Rankin  to  go  to  the  adjoining  towns  and  villages 
within  a  circle  of  one  hundred  miles  to  preach 
Christ,  returning  at  the  end  of  a  month  with 
reports  of  kind  receptions.  They  went  from  house 
to  house,  and  from  ranch  to  ranch. 


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Then  Zacetecas,  distant  some  three  hundred 
miles,  was  selected  as  another  centre,  and  in  two 
years  a  church  was  erected  by  the  Mexicans  with 
one  hundred  and  seventy  members,  which  in  1872 
was  made  over  and  occupied  by  the  Presbyterian 
Board.  The  work  spread  on  all  sides.  In  one 
place  the  Bible  readers  write  Miss  Rankin,  saying, 
“We  can  scarcely  get  time  to  eat  or  sleep,  so 
anxious  are  the  people  to  hear  God’s  word.” 
Mexicans  themselves  after  obtaining  some  knowl¬ 
edge  of  the  Bible  would  organize  “  Societies  ”  for 
the  purpose  of  mutual  instruction. 

But  in  1871  came  disturbances  again,  and  upon 
every  available  spot  of  her  house  was  written  in 
large  letters,  “Death  to  the  Protestants,”  and  the 
mission  followers  were  in  constant  apprehension  of 
assault.  And  bloody  battles  were  fought  not  far 
from  Monterey,  and  mounted  soldiers  entered  the 
town  and  came  to  her  home  “demanding  her  money 
or  life.”  She  said  to  these  desperadoes,  “  I  am 
alone  and  unprotected.  You  will  not  harm  a  help¬ 
less  lady.”  She  gave  them  food  to  appease  their 
hunger,  when  they  left,  robbing  and  destroying  other 
property,  and  shooting  down  numbers  on  the  street. 
After  a  time  order  was  restored,  and  the  mission 
work,  which  had  been  checked,  was  again  prose¬ 
cuted  with  great  success.  But  all  these  cares  and 
responsibilities  told  upon  Miss  Rankin’s  health,  and 
she  found  it  necessary  to  leave  Mexico.  “  I  had 
entertained  the.  hope,”  she  said,  “of  dying  on  the 
field  with  the  Mexican  people,  with  them  to  rise 
in  the  morning  of  the  resurrection  as  a  testimony 
that  I  had  desired  their  salvation.”  It  was  a  tre- 


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mendous  struggle  for  her  to  give  up  the  work. 
“  Never  did  the  trophies  of  Christ’s  love  appear  so 
precious  as  when  I  felt  I  must  tear  myself  away.” 

She  had  developed  the  work  until  it  assumed  pro¬ 
portions  which  required  ordained  ministers  ;  this 
fact  and  failing  health  were  indications  that  her 
work  in  Mexico  was  done.  Missionaries  of  Protes¬ 
tant  denominations  came  forward  saying,  “We  will 
take  Mexico  for  Christ.”  In  1872  she  returned 
home  and  made  over  her  work  to  the  American 
Board.  For  twenty  years  she  had  toiled,  wept, 
suffered,  prayed,  and  in  relinquishing  her  hold  it 
was  not  done  without  a  struggle.  “  I  passed  a  night 
of  meditation  and  prayer  over  it,”  she  says,  “  but 
about  the  fourth  watch  appeared  One  who  in  other 
scenes  of  trial  had  come  walking  upon  the  sea  of 
trouble  and  calmed  my  anxious  heart.”  This  done 
she  occasionally  visited  the  churches,  interesting  the 
people  in  Mexico,  then  retired  to  her  home  in  Bloom¬ 
ington,  Ill.,  where  on  Dec.  7,  1888,  in  her  seventy- 
seventh  year,  she  passed  to  her  home  above. 
Melinda  Rankin’s  name  will  ever  be  associated 
with  the  redemption  of  Mexico. 

The  different  Protestant  Missions  in  Mexico 
reported  in  1894  as  follows :  Ordained  foreign 
missionaries,  59 ;  assistant  foreign  missionaries, 
59;  foreign  lady  teachers,  67;  ordained  native 
preachers,  m  ;  unordained  native  preachers,  164; 
native  teachers,  177 ;  other  native  helpers,  94 ; 
congregations,  609 ;  organized  churches,  441  ;  com¬ 
municants,  16,034;  Sunday  school  scholars,  9,813; 
total  value  of  Mission  property,  $1,101,485. 


